Rollins Celebrates LGBT History Month

Rollins students, faculty and staff joined the record-breaking crowd of 70,000 gathered at Lake Eola to participate in the 6th Annual Come Out with Pride parade in 2010.

The mission to create a culture that’s welcoming and accepting of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Advocacy (LGBT) community has a long history at Rollins. For decades, the College has sat ahead of the curve, often adopting antidiscrimination and domestic partner policies long before they mainstreamed in the Central Florida business community.

This month, Rollins is celebrating LGBT History Month with various programming designed to raise awareness of LGBT issues. On National Coming Out Day, an internationally observed civil awareness day celebrated annually on October 11, members of Spectrum will place a closet in the Campus Center that will be filled with anonymous contributions of LGBT coming out stories.

“We’ll also have a LGBT History Month display at Olin library with books about LGBT youth, culture and history as well as a LGBT history timeline showing different laws and policies that have affected the community through the years,” said Jason Montgomery (Class of 2014), Spectrum’s treasurer. Montgomery also encourages the campus community to participate in Queer and Christian Diversity Dialogue on October 20 as well as attend the October 21 screening of "You Should Meet My Son," a comedy about a conservative Southern mother who discovers that her only son is gay. Additionally, Safe Zone training has been scheduled for October 22.

“We hope to educate the community and provide a support group for LGBT students on campus. But we are also committed to inclusivity so all of our straight allies are encouraged to participate in LGBT History Month and our ongoing events throughout the year.”